He wired up his apartment to blow the place sky high if the door was opened. It was so intricately done, it took bomb experts a day or so to gtet it to the point where they could enter and start disarming everything. If he was coherent enough to do something that complex with malice aforethought, his insanity excuse should be null and void. Period.

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Insane or not, he committed premeditated mass murder. He didn't just snap, he meticulously planned the murder of men women and children at a movie theater. There is no amount of therapy or medication that could ever convince me that he is not a threat to society and innocent civilians. He should never see the light of day again.

Mugato:Firstly, the "Sideshow Bob" thing is lame. Second, of course his scumbag lawyer is going to tell him to plead insanity. The thing is, you have to be somewhat insane to kill anyone for no reason. That doesn't mean that everyone who kills someone for no reason deserves a cushy suite at Arkham Asylum.

The Sideshow Bob thing is perfect. Don't dignify this piece of shiat by ever using his real name. I've forgotten entirely what it is, and I will continue not to care. And as for his lawyer, why is he or she a scumbag? Even the clearly guilty, even those accused of the most heinous of crimes deserve a fair trial. No matter what happens, he's toast and he'll die in prison.

Firstly, the "Sideshow Bob" thing is lame. Second, of course his scumbag lawyer is going to tell him to plead insanity. The thing is, you have to be somewhat insane to kill anyone for no reason. That doesn't mean that everyone who kills someone for no reason deserves a cushy suite at Arkham Asylum.

nekom:Insanity and meticulous planning are not polar opposites. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe what they need to prove to quash an insanity defense is that he understood what he was doing at the time, and knew that it was wrong.

He propped the back door of the theater open so that he would have access to the theater with his body armor and long rifle. He knew that the theater wouldn't allow him in the front door with that stuff.

Epiphany:Calling him Sideshow Bob to take away his fame, in a headline, then linking to an article that shows his name, is retarded. You want to do something about spreading his fame? Stop green-lighting links that talk about him for tens of thousands of people to see.

People bring small childeren to movies especially late ones hoping to enjoy a date night while the baby sleeps. Anyone with a new born baby can vouche for this. Kid sleeps in its car seat or stroller or whatever. And the couple gets to pretend theyre still in love for a couple hours.

Who brings a 6 year old to a midnight batman movie?mabey dad only gets 1 weekend a month to see said kid.and kid loves batman. You get to be the cool dad and score some brownie points with junior.

dont know why people are hung up on kids at a movie at that hour. Its not like it was schindlers list either guys.

Talos:I think the Public Pretenders are going the only route they can with Sideshow here. However, it will be a tough sell. From my understanding, using the insanity defense, you must prove that the perp was not capable of understanding what his actions were. Considering he meticulously planned the attack (including getting all dolled up in police-level riot gear) plus wired up his apartment to the point that it took EOD specialists 3 days to clear - appears he knew exactly what he was doing.

Quite likely. I think the crux of the insanity defense argument would have to be that he didn't understand what he was doing was wrong. That he was in some kind of delusional state where this was all a correct and sensible course of action. Far fetched, I know, but there are some variations on paranoid delusional schizophrenia that might shake out that way. Still competent enough to manipulate the world around him, but way too far gone to understand the consequences and implications of his actions.

Let's see: you could use a name that has instant meaning to millions of people ("Sideshow Bob"), OR you could use a bland, generic name that just fades into the background because it is so common (James Holmes).

I think the Public Pretenders are going the only route they can with Sideshow here. However, it will be a tough sell. From my understanding, using the insanity defense, you must prove that the perp was not capable of understanding what his actions were. Considering he meticulously planned the attack (including getting all dolled up in police-level riot gear) plus wired up his apartment to the point that it took EOD specialists 3 days to clear - appears he knew exactly what he was doing.

Look, there's run-of-the-mill insane. Then, there's the type of insane that deserves its own media- Art Bell or the "Aliens." guy. That's OK, the second type of insane can be entertaining.

This dude, though, he's got the type of insane that led him to kill a bunch of people. It's not like he's really going to be contributing a whole lot to society, ever. Let's just put him down like a bad dog and get on with our lives as best we can.

As soon as I saw "Sideshow Bob", his name popped into my head. I agree that the "Sideshow Bob" thing is really lame. It was a pathetic attempt to anonymize Holmes and failed miserably wtih the general public.

PunkTiger:He wired up his apartment to blow the place sky high if the door was opened. It was so intricately done, it took bomb experts a day or so to gtet it to the point where they could enter and start disarming everything. If he was coherent enough to do something that complex with malice aforethought, his insanity excuse should be null and void. Period.

Insanity and meticulous planning are not polar opposites. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe what they need to prove to quash an insanity defense is that he understood what he was doing at the time, and knew that it was wrong.